Twenty students from the University of Montana’s School of Law are currently taking a 1,400-mile, five-day bus tour across Montana to see firsthand the various forms of energy development in the state. The Energy Facilities Field Trip is a course designed to provide law students an on-the-ground experience of the energy developments about which they study. They are accompanied by law school Interim Dean Greg Munro. Read more about the facilities they’ll be touring this week.

Bark beetles have long been culling sickly trees in North American forests. But in recent years, they've been working overtime. Prolonged droughts and shorter winters have spurred bark beetles to kill billions of trees in what's likely the largest forest insect outbreak ever recorded, about 10 times the size of past eruptions. "A doubling would have been remarkable," says UM entomologist Diana Six. "Ten times screams that something is really going wrong." Mother Jones magazine joins Six in the field to learn more.

Ten members of the UM chapter of the American Marketing Association traveled to New Orleans to participate in the 37th annual International Collegiate Conference, which was held March 19-22. A team of six UM marketing students earned an honorable mention in the Sabre Business Simulation Competition, placing fourth just behind Johns Hopkins University. Two students competed in the Marketing Strategy Competition, placing in the top 15 percent of 98 teams nationwide. Read more about their successful trip.

Electronic data is created everywhere, from credit card transactions to satellite sensors. As its volume and velocity continue to increase, businesses and scientists have recognized the need for new techniques to analyze this “big data.” Several departments at UM responded to this trend by building an interdisciplinary curriculum to educate UM students on cutting-edge approaches. This May, seven UM students will be the first to graduate with a certificate in data analytics. Read more about UM’s data analytics certificate.

Sous Chef Luis Cepedes carefully plates his meal as part of the Culinary Challenge competition held March 30 in University Center Ballroom. UM hosted the National Association of College and University Food Services competition, which showcases the outstanding food preparation and presentation skills in collegiate food service programs throughout the country. Cepedes, who works at University of Colorado-Boulder, was one of five competitors in the event.